harbor for the first time in its history, and warehouses such as Europa, Azië, and Africa jumpstarted economic activity in 1883. The quay was designed according to modern requirements, with a railroad track and steam-powered cranes for loading and unloading. One problem was the Zuiderzee, which caused high waves and disturbed harbor activity. The city decided to build a breakwater, but this was unsuccessful, and in 1890 a dam was planned, the start of the future Java Island and KNSM Island. In 1896 the IJkade was constructed contiguous to the dam, and the closed-in area raised with earth won from dredging the North Sea Canal, the digging of which had started in 1876. When the western part of the IJkade was lengthened in 1904, a new peninsula was created, as well as two harbors: the water between the Java Island and the Oostelijke Handelskade is called the IJhaven, the water south of the KNSM Island is called the Ertshaven, both also being connected by rail. The deep-water harbors allowed for much economic development. In 1903, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM) settled on the eastern part of the island and experienced rapid growth. On the western part, one of the occupants was the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN), which had reached the limit of its possible expansion on the Oostelijke Handelskade. In the first half of the 20th century there was ongoing development, including for instance the increasing transport of passengers by ship to the Dutch East Indies, but after World War II harbor activity moved more to the city's Western Docklands and in the 1960s, despite the coming of some new industries such as Mobil, the area became less busy, due to the increase in containerisation and the ever-growing size of cargo ships. In the 1970s, the area fell into complete disuse. Panorama Recent development In the 1980s, The city decided to change the by now derelict area into space for residences, and even proposed to fill in the harbors. In the end, the harbors and islands remained intact, to create relatively quiet enclaves of residential neighborhoods. Many of the homes in the Eastern Docklands attract young families, which has led to more families with young children staying in the city (rather than move to places like Almere, which offer more affordable family homes with gardens). The area is also attractive to "trendy" and well-to-do urbanites; the notably modern features of